It’s been a full year since we’ve heard any new music from The Band Perry, but the sibling trio is making themselves visible with a brand-new single, “Comeback Kid.”
After splitting from their label in 2015, releasing a single—”Live Forever”— that did not perform very well and amid rumors that the band was going the pop route, the Band Perry retreated from the spotlight. But while rumors were swirling and no one was watching, the trio quietly worked behind-the-scenes on their major comeback.
The siblings delivered the world premiere of their new song, appropriately called “Comeback Song,” via a Facebook Live chat on Monday (Aug. 1) at midnight. It’s evident, from the lyrics, that they were hurt and disappointed by the negativity that transpired in the past year—just listen to the lyrics. “Comeback Kid” speaks for itself.
They like to kick you when you’re down / They like it better when you’re there on the ground / And up ’til now I’ve never made a sound / Hey, hey / I bet they never had a broken heart / But they sure know how to beat the hell out of one / Sometimes I think they do it just for fun,” sings Kimberly in the songs first verse.
With all that noise seemingly in the past and a new record label deal with Interscope Records, the Perrys are ready for a fresh start.
Nash Country Daily sat down to talk to the trio about the changes in their career, the significance of their new song and Kimberly’s fresh new look.
First things first. Kimberly you are now a brunette?
Kimberly: I’ve heard that blondes have more fun but brunettes are more discreet. So I think that means I get away with more now [laughs]. It feels like we are entering into this brand-new, fresh chapter. Sometimes things happen in your life and you feel changed by them so you kind of want to show that on the outside. Some people get tattoos but I’m scared of needles so I was like . . . hair color change.
Let’s talk about the change. You have a new single out, “Comeback Kid.” QWhat’s been going on with The Band Perry for the past year?
Kimberly: It’s a quite literal title isn’t it? Coming back to the radio after a year. We’ve gone through about 12 months of extreme transformation. For those who know the business of music, we, very literally, moved one label home to the next. One of the reasons for radio silence was—how any move goes—at one house you’ve got to box up everything and then you’ve got to drive it down the street, unpack everything and get everything settled. That’s sort of what the last handful of months were for us. And it seemed like in that moment of transition there were a lot of voices out there who decided to tell their version of what was going on and our version of the story. In that moment there was a lot of misinformation. I think The Band Perry became the favorite click bait of every blog. On one hand, that was disappointing. On the other hand, that was challenging because we talked about it and were like “Do we respond to this, do we defend ourselves, do we share with everybody what’s going on?” Ultimately, we were raised to let actions speak louder than words. Let’s just make a song that proves what our intentions are. “Comeback Kid” is that moment. It’s the most honest lyric that we’ve ever written about everything we were thinking and feeling. But bigger than us, it really is a story of anybody that’s walked through a challenging moment and come out on the other side stronger and wiser for having gone through it.
Neil: Whenever the three of us write a song, we want it to be super honest. We are three human beings, so when we feel something, we also think that our fans feel that similar emotion as well. The three of us wrote this song in an afternoon and a half and it was super honest. Every single lyric was something we felt and we hope all the fans take it and apply it to wherever they are in their own lives.
Give us a story behind the song. Where were you at and why did you want to write this song?
Kimberly: We were playing some of the new music for a couple of our friends and we were talking about what should the next moment be. It’s this funny thing where we have all this fun music on the upcoming album but it felt disingenuous to not address this moment that just happened in our lives. Our friends looked at us and said “You need to write three minutes of your truth. Just be completely transparent. Let us see you and know you on a deeper level than we ever have before.” We took that advice out of the studio and were on our tour bus in the middle of band rehearsals. The phrase comeback kid is—I related to it ever since I was in the eighth grade playing basketball and I was never good at offense but I was good a defense. I felt that sentiment of being an underdog for as long as I can remember. We just sort of sat on the bus and talked about how we wanted to relate these things we were thinking and feeling. It happened very easily. Very, very quickly.
You’ve talked a lot about transparency with this song and new album. What is your transparency about?
Kimberly: All these voices out there saying—elephant in the room—The Band Perry is going pop, they are leaving country behind. That never came from our mouths. I think someone quoted me one time as saying “Well, we’re pop tarts at heart.” What they didn’t let the world know was that that comment came exactly after I said that my first show was New Kids on the Block that I ever got to go to. It was very interesting how quickly sometimes—this doesn’t just happen to The Band Perry, this happens to everybody on social media whether you have a public career or a very private life. It’s very unfortunate how much things get taking out of context. People want to jump on a negative story a lot quicker than they do one that’s happy and joyful and positive. That’s disappointing. Our transparency is just about saying “Look we’ve been telling you the truth since day one, of course Band Perry is going to grow.” We went pop six years ago when “If I Die Young” crossed over and became No. 1 in Malaysia. And we hope to have those moments time and time again just like the greats in our format have. But this is our home and we were real excited to bring “Comeback Kid” here first.
So for the record, you are staying country?
Kimberly: As long as country radio is playing Band Perry music, we will be on country radio.
What’s the feedback been from your fans?
Reid: I feel like they haven’t really seen our story in it as much as their own.
Kimberly: Which is awesome, that’s what we were hoping for.
Reid: We got a lot of response early on because we kicked if all off with a Facebook chat. We played the song through a boombox and we immediately starting hearing stories of people that dealt with abuse or bullying when they were little. Immediate stories came out. We haven’t really sat down and gone through it all to see what the mass take away is but it’s interesting because not a lot of people heard our story but heard their story in it. Which is cool.
Kimberly: There is a line in the second verse that we were hoping that everybody would pick up on our little joke. It’s where we reference “If I Die Young” in the second verse of “Comeback Kid.” I do know that the fans did get the joke, we’ve been tweeting about it.
What’s the significance of the image on the single cover?
Kimberly: First, we are not laying in a bed, which I saw two people comment on. It would have been a stone bed but it’s not that [laughs]. This was one shot. We had about a four hour photo shoot getting ready for the single and this was one moment where I just grabbed the boys hands and I was like “This moment is about sticking it out together.” I think there was exactly one take of this. It was even blurry so we had to sharpen it. But it felt like the right sentiment for the song because as things always happen in life you really get closer to the people around you when you walk through a challenging moment. I think that’s the other thing that I’m really proud of coming out of this last year, is that we’ve always been close friends but we’ve never been closer than we are at this moment and we also wanted to show that on the single cover.
Neil: I feel like the visuals for us are as important as the music. At least for us, sometimes if we don’t get a song just listening to it on the radio, we see the video or the visuals that go along with it—it opens it up and makes us understand more of what the songs about. We wanted this image to represent the unity and the underdog spirit behind the song.
Kimberly: I’m just glad I got a manicure because I can see my fingernails. They don’t always look that good [laughs].
You’re last song “Live Forever” is the official Team USA song for the Olympics. Are you going to the Olympics?
Reid: Yeah, we are going to Rio. We will be down there for four days.
Kimberly: We’re going to be debuting the television performance of “Comeback Kid” from Rio on the Today show. Of course we’ll be playing “Live Forever” and singing it to Michael Phelps from the stands while we watch him compete.
Reid: We’re going to a bunch of different games as well and I’ve never been to the Olympics. This will be the first time.
Are you worried about the Zika virus?
Reid: Yessss.
Kimberly: Of Course, but we are going to wear beekeeper suits.
Neil: We’re going full zombie apocalypse.
And there is a new album in the works or is it done?
Kimberly: [“Comeback Kid”] is definitely the downbeat of the new album process so we’ll see how quickly this one starts moving. We’re just about done. A couple of mixes away and we can’t wait to get it out to you guys.
Maybe the end of this year?
Kimberly: We’ll see what happens.
